Ravinder, Kaushik lose battle against coronavirus

While the 60-year-old Ravinder succumbed to the dreaded disease in Lucknow on Saturday morning after battling for nearly two weeks, Kaushik died after failing to recover from the ailment here. Kaushik, who guided the India men’s team to the 1998 Asian Games gold medal in Bangkok, was 66 and is survived by his son and wife. 

He tested positive for COVID-19 on April 17 and was admitted to a nursing home here. “He was put on a ventilator on Saturday morning, but passed away,” Kaushik’s son Ehsan told PTI. Kaushik had first developed symptoms last month, but RTPCR and RAT tests returned negative reports. 

It was only after he went for a CT scan on chest on April 24 that he was detected with COVID pneumonia and was hospitalised. Since then, his condition was neither stable nor serious. His oxygen level dropped drastically at night in the last few days. 

Kaushik’s wife also got treatment at the same hospital after contracting the virus, but is recovering well. Kaushik coached both the senior men and women’s teams. Under his coaching, the women’s team won the bronze medal at the Doha Asian Games in 2006. 

He won the Arjuna Award in 1998, before being bestowed with the Dronacharya award in 2002. Earlier in the day, Ravinder died after spending two weeks at the Vivekananda Hospital in Lucknow. According to family sources, Ravinder recovered from the virus and was shifted to a non-COVID ward on Thursday after testing negative. 

But, his condition deteriorated suddenly on Friday and he was put on a ventilator. Ravinder, who also played at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, did not get married and is survived by a niece, Pragya Yadav.